Americas

Jan/Feb '16 Premium Content

Baja California, Mexico: Rip to the Tip

I used to write for myself as a way to catalog a fraction of the memories to look back upon in the future. I wrote as a way to stimulate my mind with words and vocabulary, organizing my thoughts in a creative, descriptive way. I wrote, yes even for the

May/Jun '15 Premium Content

Riding Baja, Mexico

The year was 1972 … the last time my old man sat on a vinyl seat, pulled on a helmet, and rode off into the sunset. So, when I approached him about riding bikes in Baja for a month long journey down Mexico’s infamous peninsula, I was surprised he agreed

Mar/Apr '15 Premium Content

Colombia: Blue Moon Over Bogotá

Imagine the most amazing motorcycle road in the world. What would it be like? Would it race along the Pacific coast like California’s Highway 1? Would it launch you high into the Andes where condors soar beneath the clouds? Maybe you would be greeted by ghosts of the ancients

May/Jun '13 Premium Content

Colombia: The New World Ride

Motorcycle in Colombia? “You must be crazy,” my friends say. “We’ve already established that,” I retort. “You’ll have to come up with a more compelling reason to keep me from going.” “Oh … bandits, kidnappers, drug cartels, armed rebels … you’ll never be seen again,” they warn. But when

Nov/Dec '11 Premium Content

Peru

…At 13,123 feet (4,000 meters), we stop to add liners for warmth and sip hot Coca tea. The world that is The Andes transforms before us: the flora and fauna, the native peoples, the texture of the landscape that defines this magnificent mountain range – everything looks majestic here,

Jul/Aug '11 Premium Content

World Travelers: Bolivia

Following two days in the Chilean desert town of San Pedro de Atacama, we are cruising back to the base of Licancabur Volcano. Its ashen flanks are our signal to turn north, drop from the asphalt, and begin our ascent into a land like no other. At an elevation of

May/Jun '11 Premium Content

World Travelers: Argentina and Chile

The weatherworn sign on the outskirts of Ushuaia proudly reads "Bienvenidos a la Ciudad mas austral del Mundo" - Welcome to the Southernmost City in the World. The tires of our heavily laden GS bikes bite into the freshly fallen snow as we excitedly pull on past. El

Mar/Apr '11 Premium Content

World Travelers: Brazil's Amazon Jungle, Part II

The fall from the bridge was this morning. The day has been a blur of failed mechanics interspersed with lost consciousness. I can't choke back any more drugs, especially as we have so few and no soon opportunity to gain more. As the daylight disappears the thick Amazon

Jan/Feb '11 Premium Content

World Travelers: Brazil's Amazon Jungle, Part I

It's been said that what we do defines us. Yet perhaps it's as much about what we do, as it is what we endure and what we learn from? We find out who we really are only when we're pushed past what we thought

Jul/Aug '10 Premium Content

Central America - Moto Mundo Maya, Part 2

As we continue our journey through four time zones and seven countries, we cross the border (frontera) from Mexico into Guatemala, near El Carmen. We're surrounded by chaos. At least a dozen pushing and shoving street hustlers encircle us, yelling simultaneously in Spanglish that they're the

Mar/Apr '10 Premium Content

Moto Mundo Maya in Mexico, Part I

"I have found out there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain What involves three motorcycles and riders, four time zones and seven countries? Why Moto Mundo Maya

May/Jun '08 Premium Content

Mexico, Part 2: The North

A Mexican in a white sombrero rides his donkey on the dusty gravel road in front of us. His appearance in this deserted region presents an unexpected opportunity to ask if he knows of a shortcut through the mountains of the Sierra Madre. Squinting, he scans the surrounding hillsides. Perhaps

Mar/Apr '08 Premium Content

Mexico, Part 1: The South

Traveling northwest from Guatemala, we reach Chiapas. Mexico's southernmost state is referred to as "Mundo Mayas," the gate to the world of the Mayas. At 6,900 feet, in a densely forested valley in the mountains of the Sierra Madre, lies San Cristóbal de las Casas.

Jul/Aug '07 Premium Content

The Colors of Guatemala

When last we heard from them in the tropics, our world travelers Ramona Eichhorn and Uwe Krauss had crossed Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras on their KTM 640 Adventures. They now take us into Guatemala to explore the Mayan heartland of Central America. Tikal The road curves from the

Mar/Apr '07 Premium Content

Colombia: The Far Side Of The Moon

Riding a motorcycle around the world is the ultimate learning experience. Take Colombia. Whenever Uwe and I had thought about the northwestern-most country in South America, we immediately imagined drug cartels, chaos, and danger. We could only visualize the dark side of a country whose people have lived through many

Jan/Feb '07 Premium Content

Peru to Ecuador: In the Footsteps of the Incas

The cobalt blue waters of Lake Titicaca are dotted with fishermen in their reed boats. At an altitude of 12,628 feet, the air is crystal clear. White clouds hang low over the red and brown hills of the Altiplano, reflected in the mirror-like surface of the lake. Irrigated maize

Nov/Dec '06 Premium Content

Brazil: From the Amazon Basin to Rio

With the crossing by canoe of the rocky waters of the Mamoré River, we leave the tropical north of Bolivia and resume our two-wheel journey, heading north into a new and fascinating world called Brazil. A five-hour ride on intensely hot pavement takes us through lush fields to the town

Sep/Oct '06 Premium Content

Basic Bolivia

"Welcome to Coca Country" could well be the most fitting name for the Bolivian exhibition hall at the next World's Fair or maybe for some future installation at Six Flags over South America. Admittedly provocative (unless the soft-drink giant underwrites its construction), nevertheless the hall might

Jul/Aug '06 Premium Content

Northern Chile and Argentina: High and Dry

Summer was running out of gas. Yellow leaves fell gently, and autumn nipped at the air when we left behind the vineyards and fruit plantations north of Santiago on our trip to Mendoza, in Argentina. Like ghost riders, it felt as if we were heading straight into the sky. An

May/Jun '06 Premium Content

Exploring Chile's Wild and Rugged South

Off-road heaven has a name  -  Chile. Twenty-seven hundred miles long, this very narrow stretch of land between the Andes and the rugged Pacific coast is one of the most multifaceted countries we have ever seen. In stark contrast to its arid northern reaches Chilean Patagonia offers all the dramatic

Mar/Apr '06 Premium Content

South Argentina: A Journey into Patagonia

The view from the plane was breathtaking: a seemingly infinite range of sharp, snowy summits stretched toward the earth's curve, among them the magnificence of Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas. Farther east, the land abruptly flattens out, revealing the vast, fertile expanses of the pampas, the

May/Jun '05 Premium Content

Sweepers, Samba, and Sugarloaf

The flight was long  -  8 hours from Miami  -  and although it was a night flight, I was too excited about the upcoming tour to sleep well. Drowsy, I staggered from the plane. A morning brew of warm, humid air swamped my face. A curtain of gray clouds concealed

Mar/Apr '04 Premium Content

Mexico: Copper Canyon, A Ride Back in Time

Most people visit Copper Canyon by rail, a spectacular ride on the Chihuahua Pacifico Railroad, crossing 39 bridges and 86 tunnels along a rift bigger than the Grand Canyon! Quite an adventure if you're partial to traveling in boxes, but the rugged scenery and cultural gems of the

May/Jun '03 Premium Content

Colombia, Ecuador and Peru

Customs Office, Guatemala City Each of our four motorcycles now had 31 pages of documentation, ranging from photocopies of passports to typed forms with VIN and registration numbers. Thirteen people at 13 desks had to stamp each sheet. Mercifully, not all of the agents needed to be bribed. The strain

Winter '02 Premium Content

Baja California

Baja. In the world of off-road racing and riding few words conjure the kind of reverence associated with this legendary peninsula. For almost 40 years Baja has hosted one of the greatest off-road races in the world, the Baja 1,000. Located on the western coast of Mexico, the state